I am fairly new to the xbox format so I never got this game when it first came out although I did think 'An open world game set in the wild west? Sounds pretty cool' and indeed it is. The graphics are excellent - better than some newer games in the same genre - shame on you saints row third - and the excellent music and thought that's gone in to the game make it a very immersive experience. You won't want the game to end, and as its open, when you do complete the missions, you can if you choose continue with side missions, games, gaining outfits and challenges (to become a legend of the west) or simply skipping from town to town, cheating at poker and getting in to duels.
I have to say something about the music. Its as good as you'd see in an old western and an original song by Jose Gonzalez (best known for the song 'Heartbeats') that plays when you first enter Mexico was so beautiful that I was distracted from the gameplay and rode my horse off a cliff which killed me, and stopped the music - damn. The side games include poker, blackjack, liar's dice, arm wrestling and horseshoe throwing are all fun even if they're not easy to master.
So why not 5 stars, well despite coming out a year after the original game and including lots of neat extras - not the least of which is the undead nightmare segment which is a whole game in itself, though it follows on from the first one - the game still has its glitches. Most of these are not very upsetting but the fact that your character cannot swim and dies instantly in even shallow water can be irritating and because of the games complexity some things aren't as easy as they should have been. I'm thinking of duels, primarily. Pay attention when the tutorial kicks in. It won't repeat, you can't bring it up again and you'll keep wondering why you keep losing your duels. I've looked on youtube for better explanations and no matter how people describe it, its more complicated and awkward than it should have been. Also, the much touted, 'play it your way' thing is a bit over-rated, though you can make small amounts of money committing some crimes, the bounty on your head is annoying and lawmen appear out of nowhere to begin shooting you down - in short, you pretty much have to be a good guy - and the set adventures show lots of cut scenes that imply you're basically a good guy so trying to go against this doesn't get you far. Really there should be different missions accessible depending on the type of person you're playing. One other last little problem - getting around can be tedious. Once you've spent an hour in total riding from town to town on your horse it can get pretty old. It also would have been nice to customise the character's appearance but never mind.
That aside, I find the game to be great fun, very immersive and well worth the price, especially if you're going to venture in to the multiplayer side of it as well. Excellent game with some minor problems, but not enough problems to stop it being good fun and taking up many hours of your time with good entertainment and total escapism in the wild west.





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